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The tiger is the king of all beasts!
A mature ferocious tiger, its physical build, flesh, tendons, bones, organs, and qi-blood, are all incredibly powerful!
Such beasts are natural predators. Once they reach adulthood, they are almost equivalent to a martial artist at the peak of inner strength, the human limit, the pinnacle of martial arts!
In my former life within the tale of "Outlaws of the Swamp," Wu Song was a divine being descended to earth, with a mighty frame and innate divine strength. Yet, his slaying of a ferocious tiger was enough to boast about for a lifetime.
Later generations, when mentioning this story, mostly believed that no matter how strong a person, no matter how formidable a martial artist, it was impossible to kill a mature ferocious tiger.
Yet the tiger before me had already become a spirit!
A demon tiger!
No match for human strength!
Even someone like Lin Yan, a martial artist at the pinnacle of human strength, could not contend with it.
"Then I have no choice but to break through to the Refining Essence Realm."
Lin Yan took a deep breath and swung his long blade.
Just now, by killing thirty-three phantom ghosts, he had absorbed thirty-three strands of Evil Qi!
He added two strands of Evil Qi to his cultivation.
——
Name: Lin Yan.
Cultivation Technique: Five Elements Inner Breath Technique.
Cultivation: Refining Essence Realm (1/3650) +
Divine Power 1: Absorb Evil!
Divine Power 2: Demon Suppression!
Techniques as follows:
Nine-layered Heaven Thunder Blade (87/100) +
Paper-Cutting Horses (12/100) +
Disguise Technique (67/100) +
Technique to Conceal One's Breath (21/100) +
Evil Qi: 31 strands.
In an instant!
Like a spring emerging from within, it flowed throughout his body.
At this moment, Lin Yan's eyes shone even brighter.
As if in a trance, the reflections of candlelight in his pupils seemed to burst forth with divine radiance.
He felt his body gradually becoming more solid.
From the skin outside to the flesh, tendons, bones, and internal organs inside, all became interconnected.
He sensed his strength growing at an extremely noticeable rate, and even the blade in his hand seemed much lighter all of a sudden.
The ranks of martial artists: Eleven.
Skin, flesh, tendons, bones.
Refining blood, cleansing marrow.
The heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys.
To train the five organs to interconnect is to achieve the ultimate in inner strength, a first-rank martial artist!
And today, his inner and outer self were merged as one, his body as firm as iron, having been tempered into steel!
At this moment, his vital energy surged like a fountain!
"Now I've also become a spirit!"
Lin Yan gripped his blade, assumed his stance, and said in a deep voice, "Old demon! Come at me!"
In an instant, a tiger's roar echoed through the forest!
A violent wind arose, carrying sand and rocks!
Having just broken through to the Refining Essence Realm, his gaze was sharp enough to turn night into day.
But at that moment, dust filled the air, blurring his vision.
He couldn't see clearly ahead, but he could feel the fierce wind approaching, ferocious to the extreme.
Lin Yan's eyes were piercing as he leaped forward with his sword, slashing down.
With a thunderous crash!
He felt a heavy sensation transmitted from the blade!
He focused his energy on his eyes and discovered that what he had shattered was a huge rock flying toward him.
He was tricked!
The tiger had become a spirit, cunning and treacherous!
A sense of alarm surged in Lin Yan's heart, and the moment he landed, he rolled on the spot, shifting to the left.
There was a dull thump!
When he looked up, he saw where he had just been, a tiger had pounced!
The ground where he landed collapsed in an instant!
The surrounding earth cracked and spread out in an instant!
It was clear the effort the demon tiger put into its pounce was of tremendous force!
"Although the tiger is old, it has certainly been a spirit for a long time."
Lin Yan thought rapidly, "I've just entered the Refining Essence Realm, my cultivation is far inferior to it, but it's old and less agile."
The current situation.
He was less strong than the tiger.
But more agile than the old demon.
The trouble is, this old tiger isn't just a regular beast. It's crafty and deceitful, its attacks unpredictable.
Just one encounter, and he had nearly fallen for its trick!
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His heart chilled, he gripped his blade and retreated.
As expected, the tiger roared, a sound that shook the heart, kicking up sand and stones!
In the blink of an eye, a large swath of sand had been lifted, covering the spot he had just been standing!
If he hadn't retreated in time, he would have been buried alive!
But behind the curtain of soil, the demon tiger did not pounce to kill.
As the dust settled, the darkness remained.
The demon tiger had vanished without a trace.
Yet the chill in Lin Yan's heart had not subsided at all.
The night was silent, with a gentle breeze.
A gust of wind hit his face.
"Something's wrong!"
Lin Yan, ever on his guard, instinctively braced himself to stand firm and slash forward.
But his vast experience in killing foes helped him curb his instinctive counterattack, and he lunged forward instead.
Behind him, a sudden gust whipped up; the demon tiger had somehow circled behind him without notice, concealed in the underbrush.
Despite its large size, the predator was an expert in hiding, crouching and moving forward, waiting for the perfect moment to strike!
But Lin Yan still managed to avoid this deadly pounce!
The demon tiger was still in the air, yet to land on the ground.
But Lin Yan had already spun around, moving quickly to get behind it.
He hadn't even managed to draw his blade when he saw the tiger's front limbs hit the ground, with the back half of its body lifting up.
The rear half of its body rose, and its hind legs kicked backward!
Lin Yan hastily halted his advance, dodging this motion.
But then he saw the tiger's tail shoot up, like an iron rod, sweeping across with a whooshing sound.
Lin Yan took a direct hit and was brutally swept aside, cut across the waist!
Yet before the demon tiger's eyes could reflect any joy, it saw the two halves of the body it had severed turn into a shower of paper, falling like snowflakes!
Paper-cutting for horses! A blinding trick!
Then suddenly, a rumble of thunder!
"Old demon, take this blade!"
Lin Yan, who had been lying low in the dust, suddenly rose fiercely.
Nine-layered Heaven Thunder Blade, the first strike!
In the chilly night, the blade's light shone clear, flashing like a bolt of lightning!
The tough musculature and bones, so vulnerable under the blade's edge!
With a bang, the enormous tiger head was cleaved off, tumbling to the dust.
"..."
Lin Yan had put all his strength into that one strike, panting fiercely and barely able to stand.
He knew well that the gap in cultivation was too large; adding the remaining thirty-one strands of Evil Qi to his own cultivation would still not be enough to turn the tide.
So, he added eighteen strands of Evil Qi to his prowess in "Paper-cutting for horses," reaching the "mastery" level, to create confusion.
Fearing that his sword skill was not formidable enough, he put the last thirteen strands of Evil Qi entirely into his swordsmanship.
But what was more vital was that the demon tiger was old and weakened, barely able to cope after the pounce, lift, and sweep.
Its old strength spent, and without new strength arising, Lin Yan found its vulnerability in that moment of weakness.
Finally, with the boost from the Demon Suppression Divine Power, he was able to end its life with one strike, slaying the demon tiger right there!
Looking at the demon tiger's body, now decapitated, he took a deep breath and thought to himself, "It's not just you, old demon, who can use tricks!"
He closed his eyes slightly, taking a look.
With this demon tiger slain, he had gained fifty-three strands of Evil Qi.
Adding to that the ghosts from before, it totaled a staggering eighty-six strands of Evil Qi.
If it weren't for the fact that the tiger was in its twilight years, the number would have been even higher.
One must know, a martial artist who has cultivated to the four realms of the flesh, honored as a master, would only have three strands of Evil Qi.
The reward for slaying the demon was more significant than expected.
As he thought this, he said to himself, "Moreover, a demon tiger's body is a treasure trove... Its skin, flesh, and bones are all greatly valuable, with the tiger blood, when turned into candles, serving as a powerful talisman against evil, far more effective in the wild than the incense candles in Liu Venerate's temple."
Coming from a butcher's background, he immediately planned to restore some of his strength before slaughtering the demon tiger, carving off its skin and flesh.
"Hm?"
But just at that moment, he was seized by a sudden feeling of unease.
His heart chilled, and he swiftly somersaulted backward.
After performing three flips, he was a distance of six yards away, looking back at what was before him, horror rising uncontrollably in his eyes.
He saw the beheaded body of the demon tiger shakily rise from the ground.
The headless tiger's body oozed blood from its neck, like a gushing fountain.
But at that moment, the spouting blood slowly turned pitch black.
Black patterns on the tiger's body extended into tendrils that fluttered in the air.
In an instant, black tendrils covered the demon tiger's body, ripping open its flesh.
The tiger's bones were plainly visible.
Blood blackened and flowed.
Beneath the torn tiger skin, the muscles twitched and writhed as if countless worms were struggling inside.
The sight before him was gruesome and terrifying; one look was enough to make his scalp tingle.
Had the demon tiger been possessed even in life?